RAPID FIRE! ....................

The Battle for Ville Beurre Foss

The Rapid Fire team slogs it out in the bocage during their Easter get together.

Easter 2004 and the launch of the RF Northwest Europe scenario book seems quite distant now (although the weather in the UK - summer 2004 - is much the same!), but what sticks in my memory is this tense divisional-level scrap that took place during my visit to Col's place.

Colin has been playing particular attention recently to another level of RF scaling: representing infantry at a ratio of approximately 1:45 and tanks/guns/ vehicles at 1:15, to better enable the recreation of larger battles such as Goodwood and Epson on a reasonably sized table.

Before you all get too alarmed, this transition is painless, as - with some tweaking -companies become battalions (making the basic tactical unit the brigade or regiment) and individual tank models represent companies/squadrons instead of platoons/troops. More will be revealed when RF 2 appears early next year, but my visit to Wilberfoss gave us the opportunity to try out a 'divisional-level' battle and as Col wanted to monitor proceedings for research purposes what better opponent for yours truly that Tony Chadburn of Raventhorpe Miniatures.

The Terrain

As you can see, the terrained 12' x 5' table offered a significant challenge to the attacker. A British armoured division - attacking from the foreground - had to battle its way through a German infantry division, fields, hills and bocage hedges and the sprawling real estate of - for want of a better name - Ville Beurre Foss, with the objective of smashing a way through to the end of the table for a general advance. This was a 'breakthough' battle typical of those attempted in July 1944 and guess who decided to command the British.

The Forces

What struck me first was the relative lack of infantry in my shrunken division. Of course this was a problem for all Allied armoured units and only marginally less so for their German equivalents (and only when they were at full strength). But the equivalent of an RF lorried battalion, plus a motor company (representing a lorried infantry brigade and motor battalion repectively) seemed very little to pitch into hedgerow country, where I expected my tanks would need lots of protection from Panzerfausts and dug-in AT guns.

The British Armoured Division Orbat

I knew Tony had plenty of infantry and a couple of SP AT guns, but he also had some useful medium divisional artillery and good OP positions in and out of the town, putting my infantry at particular risk.

The German Infantry Division Orbat



Opening Moves

As Tony cunningly deployed his defenders I opted for a three pronged armoured attack, with a reinforced regiment of tanks attacking very cautiously along the table edge road to the left, the rest of the armour and SP AT guns pushing up the road to the right centre and the armoured recce regiment trying to plough a way through some seemingly undefended fields between them. All of these were to be aggressive probes, looking for a potential weak spot, but keeping the pressure up all along the German defensive line. To be honest, I kept looking at all those hedges thinking I didn't stand a chance of getting through!

Note the Motor Company moving across to position itself behind the recce regiment's Cromwells. In my innocence this place looked the best bet for a breakthrough, but in the centre I could still slip the motor battalion left or right to support the other attacks. The smoke marks my first tank losses.

I opted to keep the lorried infantry brigade together and moved them up on the extreme right flank were there was good cover. I didn't want to split them up to support each probe, fearing all that German artillery which could soon decimate each separate 'battalion'. By using them this way they offered a potential threat to the German left whilst (in theory) standing ready to rush forward to support the successful attackers.

My artillery was deployed to the rear and I pushed my OP tank and carrier cautiously up front, hoping to get into some good positions to view the enemy infantry when they revealed themselves.

Tony must have been feeling as confident as I did daunted. You can see the visible parts of his line (not visible to me of course, until they fired, or I observed them) and the bastion of the town backing them up. In the opening moves he knocked out my lead tank 'squadron' (red smoke) on the right and I slowly shuffled my units forward, waiting for reserved fire from every clump of greenery.

Breakthough! (or not)



After much pussy footing around I boldly launched my recce regiment into what looked like a defender-free gap. You'd think that I would have noticed all this hardware on the nearby ridge.

Of course, Tony was far too canny to offer me such an open door. This is a good view of his defensive stance. Not a thin, easy-to-pierce line, but an in-depth position capable of defending its flanks and letting fly from all sides once my Stuarts and Cromwells had been suckered in, knocking out all three tanks you can see blasting through the hedges. The British passion for cavalry charges had come a cropper once again and I was beginning to feel a bit despondent (not as bad as those cows mind.)

Crisis in the hedgerows

From here on the situation deteriorated for my armoured columns, as a glance at the amount of red (destroyed) and grey (heavily damaged) smoke suggests.

For all my efforts I seemed to have made little headway and after early success even my air support was driven off. The only silver linings on the dark clouds gathering over the table were being able to replenish and repair some of my surviving tanks and the fact that my artillery and tank HE fire had caused significant casualties to one of the defending German regiments.

This was the lowest point for the British armoured division and it looked like the combination of clever defence and close terrain was going to give Tony an easy victory.

The Turning Point

I was going nowhere fast in the centre and although losses were also heavy on the left it seemed the only option for a possible breakthrough. I decided to try and push my armoured car regiment through under cover of artillery and tank fire and to my amazement most of them made it, followed by a tank battalion who weren't quite so lucky, but still managed some progress.

As with most games the British success hinged on a few key events. These included the loss of Tony's SP AT gun and a couple of unlucky Panzerschreke shots, that hit, but only lightly damaged their targets. But the biggest blow for the Germans was their left hand regiment reaching the casualty threshold for a morale test and then being forced to rout.

They say history is written by the victors so this is my favourite moment (sorry Tony!). The surviving Daimlers of my armoured car regiment suddenly found themselves behind enemy lines and attacked the medium artillery regiment. This wasn't as easy as it sounded, but the end result was the artillery being forced to limber up and retreat, ending one of the biggest German threats to my advance.

The collapse on the German left now took the other regiment in the main defence line with it and as this unit routed through the town the British armour occupied the ridge and tanks and lorried infantry pushed forward on the right.

The End

Tony has just taken the throw that kept his garrison in good morale and - as you can see - I wasn't really in a position to storm the town, with more wrecks than runners in my armoured units.

However, as the Allied division had been ordered to force a path through the German lines the mission had been accomplished and we could sit back and besiege Ville Beurre Foss until they ran out of sandwiches.

Debrief

I was in no position to gloat. As you can see from the photo below taken at the end of the game, the table was covered in red smoke - mainly attached to Shermans - and I'd been very lucky with my tank unit morale throws. I was also none too sure that my infantry had been best used away in their hideaway on the right. Add that to some real dithering and uncertainty in the opening moves and I felt very fortunate to have won.

Divisional Scaling

Once you get used to it the mind quickly elevates to higher things. It's refreshing to command an entire division for a start and it is sobering to lose an entire battalion or regiment. My infantry were relatively intact at the end of the game, but the lorried infantry brigade still lost the equivalent of three companies to artillery fire. I'll certainly be working on some 'RF 3' scaled units; especially for the Russian Front where virtually everything happened at the divisional level.

So, to sum up, a memorable, challenging and hard fought game with two good mates, using superb scenery and figures. What more could you ask for?

Richard Marsh